New York Democrats cast ballots Tuesday under smothering summer heat to choose the likely next leader of the largest US city, someone voters say must resist President Donald Trump and provide relief to high costs of living.With about a dozen candidates offering a range of personalities and proposals, the race is an increasingly tight contest between former governor Andrew Cuomo, 67, and state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, 33, who has mounted a surprise challenge to the better-known but tainted frontrunner.The winner of Tuesday’s primary vote will represent the Democrats in the general election in November, in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans three to one.Cuomo, whose father was also a New York governor, is eyeing a political comeback after being dogged by sex assault claims. In August 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James accused Cuomo of sexually harassing 11 women. He resigned and then his brother Chris, a star anchor on CNN who advised his campaign, had to do the same.But just four years later, the candidate was welcomed by cheering supporters in various venues after throwing his hat in the ring for mayor in March.Cuomo has been the frontrunner for most of the race, but some recent polls have shown Mamdani closing the gap, even narrowly pulling ahead. Mamdani represents the diverse borough of Queens in the New York State Assembly, describes himself as progressive and Muslim, and is backed by popular leftist figures Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.He has fired up an army of young volunteers with a social media campaign promising to tackle the high cost of living with free buses, daycare centers and rent freezes in a city where a three-bedroom apartment can easily cost $6,000 per month.”Tomorrow is ours if we want it,” Mamdani said late Monday in a social media post including a video appealing to voters.”We are on the cusp of toppling a political dynasty, and delivering a New York everyone can afford,” he said.Sheryl Stein, who works in tourism marketing, sounded skeptical.”I like youth,” the voter in her fifties told AFP. But Mamdani having “no experience and no proven track record to run the largest city in this country and one of the largest in the world, is pretty scary.”Other voters spoke of the need for a mayor who understands the city’s complicated infrastructure, who is honest, or who can “stand up to Trump.”- Candidate handcuffed -With more than eight million residents, New York houses the world’s greatest concentration of millionaires, but a quarter of its population lives in poverty, according to a recent report by an anti-poverty organization Robin Hood and its partner Columbia University. According to a New York Times editorial, while Mamdani offers “a fresh political style” — videos that show him chatting with voters have gone viral — he lacks experience and “offers an agenda that remains alluring among elite progressives but has proved damaging to city life.”The campaign is unfolding as Democrats fume at Trump’s proposed budget cuts and aggressive campaigns against undocumented immigrants. Last week, in another startling display of America’s political discord, mayoral candidate Brad Lander, the city’s current comptroller and a Democrat, was hauled away in handcuffs after accompanying a migrant to a court hearing. Endorsed by the likes of former president Bill Clinton and ex-New York mayor and billionaire Mike Bloomberg, Cuomo is presenting himself as the candidate with the heft required to helm the country’s most populous city in the current political climate. “This is not a job for a novice,” Cuomo told supporters, apparently attacking Mamdani’s relative inexperience during an 11th hour rally Monday at a carpenters’s union. “We need someone who knows what they’re doing on day one, because your lives depend on it.”Meanwhile current New York Mayor Eric Adams — accused of cooperating with Trump’s administration in return for the dropping of federal corruption charges against him — has said he will run as an independent.Though a heat wave could stifle Tuesday’s turnout, some 380,000 voters have already cast ballots. A system that asks voters to list five candidates in order of preference makes opinion polling challenging. 

The high-profile trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs is approaching its final stretch, with both teams poised to rest their cases as soon as Tuesday.Closing arguments are tentatively expected to begin on Thursday, after which jurors will be tasked with deciding the fate of the music mogul who faces life in prison if convicted.The prosecution’s 34th and last witness is currently on the stand, and defense lawyers indicated Monday they do not plan on calling their own witnesses to testify in Manhattan federal court.It’s not abnormal for defense teams to opt not to present a case; the obligation to prove guilt lies on prosecutors, and unless jurors decide they have, the defendant is presumed innocent.Over seven weeks of testimony prosecutors drew connections across a web of witnesses, phone records and travel bookings, a bid to show that Combs was the kingpin of an enterprise comprised of high-ranking employees that carried out crimes including bribery, arson and kidnapping to enforce his power and satisfy his every desire.The prosecution said the artist and entrepreneur trafficked women and men for drug-fueled sexual marathons, sometimes days-long encounters dubbed “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”Some of the events were filmed, and jurors have watched a number of sexually explicit clips.Government attorneys are closing their questioning by offering reams of text messages and other records for jurors to review, documentation of dozens of freak-offs that they say also shows arrangements for prostitution and trafficking.The 55-year-old denies the charges.- No defense witnesses? -The defense’s decision not to call witnesses could indicate they believe their questioning of government witnesses could have cast enough doubt on the case against Combs.It could also mean they haven’t identified any witnesses who could help them.They did indicate they plan to submit some exhibits into evidence before resting.Lawyers for Combs have insisted that what prosecutors have called sex trafficking was consensual.Three women have testified in graphic detail of harrowing abuse that ranged sexual, physical and emotional.The singer Casandra Ventura, Combs’s girlfriend for more than a decade, filed suit against Combs in 2023, a civil case that was settled out of court in less than 24 hours — but which opened the floodgates for a deluge of accusations against the one-time music industry powerhouse.She was among the key witnesses to testify at the trial, and jurors were repeatedly shown now-infamous surveillance footage of Combs violently kicking and dragging Ventura in a hotel.A hotel security guard testified that he received $100,000 in a brown paper bag from Combs in exchange for the disturbing tape, which CNN published last year.Jurors are not sequestered but are instructed every day not to consume any media about the case — a mighty task, as news of the trial has permeated both traditional and social media.

US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was in force on Tuesday, urging both sides to “not violate it” on the 12th day of the war between the two arch-foes.”THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. The US leader had earlier said the truce would be a phased 24-hour process beginning at around 0400 GMT Tuesday, with Iran unilaterally halting all operations first. He said Israel would follow suit 12 hours later.Israeli rescuers said four people were killed in an Iranian strike, after state media in the Islamic republic reported waves of missiles were headed toward Israel.Neither Iran nor Israel have confirmed the agreement touted by Trump on ending the conflict that has killed hundreds in Iran and two dozen in Israel.Only hours before Trump’s latest announcement, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that “as of now, there is NO ‘agreement’ on ceasefire or cessation of military operations”.”However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards,” he said on social media.But Israel’s army said sirens were activated in northern Israel — where moments before Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported a wave of missiles were headed.At least four people were killed in the multi-wave Iranian missile attack shortly before the staggered ceasefire announced by Trump was meant to enter into force, emergency services and the military said.The Magen David Adom rescue service said three people were pronounced dead at the scene of a strike in the southern city of Beersheba while a fourth was added in an update to its figures.Explosions also continued to rock Tehran overnight, with blasts in the north and centre of the Iranian capital described by AFP journalists as some of the strongest since the conflict broke out.Any cessation in hostilities would come as a huge relief to world leaders frantic about an escalation in violence igniting a wider conflagration.The adversaries had been swapping missile fire since Israel carried out surprise “preemptive” strikes against Iran on June 13, targeting nuclear and military sites, and prompting Trump to warn of a possible “massive” regional conflict.- Strikes on US base -The US leader’s truce announcement came hours after Iran launched missiles at the largest US military facility in the Middle East — Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar — in a move Trump shrugged off as “very weak.”Calling for a de-escalation, Trump said Tehran had given advance notice of the barrage. Iran’s National Security Council confirmed having targeted the base “in response to the US aggressive and insolent action against Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities”. But it added that the number of missiles launched “was the same as the number of bombs that the US had used” — a signal that it had calibrated its response to be directly proportional rather than escalatory.”This was calibrated and telegraphed in a way that would not result in any American casualties, so that there is an off ramp for both sides,” Ali Vaez, a senior advisor at the International Crisis Group, told AFP.The offensive came after the United States joined its ally Israel’s military campaign against Iran, attacking an underground uranium enrichment centre with massive bunker-busting bombs and hitting two other nuclear facilities overnight Saturday into Sunday.As international concern mounted that Israel’s campaign and the US strikes could ignite a wider conflict, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that “the spiral of chaos must end” while China warned of the potential economic fallout.- ‘Blatant aggression’ -Iran said its assault in Qatar wasn’t targeting the Middle Eastern neighbour, but the government in Doha accused Tehran of “blatant aggression” and claimed its right to a “proportional” response.Iran’s state media quoted the Revolutionary Guard Corps announcing that six missiles had hit Al Udeid, which had been evacuated beforehand, according to the Qataris. The broadside was made up of “short-range and medium-range ballistic missiles,” a US defence official said.AFP reporters heard blasts in central Doha and in Lusail, north of the capital, on Monday evening, and saw projectiles moving across the night sky.Iranians gathered in central Tehran to celebrate, images on state TV showed, with some waving the flag of the Islamic republic and chanting “Death to America”.Qatar earlier announced the temporary closure of its airspace in light of “developments in the region”, while the US embassy and other foreign missions warned their citizens to shelter in place.Israeli strikes on Iran have killed more than 400 people, Iran’s health ministry has said. Twenty-four people have died in Iran’s attacks on Israel, according to official figures.burs-ft/hmn/dv/tc